The Sunshine Blogger Award

First of all, a big thank you to dear Gayathry for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger Award. I am very happy that your blog The Quill got nominated too. Nomination – it feels like a party to me. You get to meet your friends with whom you are either in regular contact or lost touch over the time. Any award nominations give the opportunity to connect with your friends and build new friendships. It doesn’t matter whether you win or not.

Coming back to the nomination, although it’s a party, still there are some rules which are :

1. Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to their blog so others can find them.

2. Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.

3. Nominate 11 other bloggers and ask them 11 new questions.

4. Notify the nominees about it by commenting on one of their blog posts.

5. List the rules on your post and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo on your post and/or your blog site.

And here are my answers : 

1. If you could shuttle between now and at some point in the past or future, which event / historical period would you choose?

I would like to go back to the era of Maharajas and Maharanis of India. Of course, royalty still exists but only by name. The pomp and grandeur of royals even before the British came to rule India must have been something to watch out for. The palaces of Rajasthan tells many interesting stories about royal lifestyle, events, wars, hunting, entertainment, culture and norms. And becoming an invisible spectator of such larger than life yet real people would have been very interesting.

2. White or black? And why?

Black. That’s only because white needs a lot of care and maintenance. With black, I can be myself.I don’t need to worry about the stain that couldn’t be washed off even after straining my hand’s muscles. In my opinion, black should be the national colour for all the lazy people like me.

3. Do you think morality is relative, or is it absolute?

For me, morality is absolute. I am a strong believer of Karma and my belief comes from a set of good and bad personal experiences. What you give is what you get. It’s that simple and direct. There is nothing relative.

4. Name one work of art that changed your life.

Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. I read the novel several times as a kid, even before I knew the existence of Satyajit Ray‘s movie on the same story. Innocence of the brother-sister duo Apu and Durga along with their interest in experiencing life even in the midst of poverty fascinated me. I read the whole book once. Whenever I took the book after that, I used to stop reading it midway.To be precise, just before the part where Durga dies .

The situation of the Ray family worsens and they leave for a big city in search of a better life. But fate had other plans. Apu, who is a darling of his family, gets beaten for the first time in his life. My young heart couldn’t take it. For I have seen him growing up in his initial years in the novel. It made me realise early that every person has a story behind for who and what they are. So, we need to think twice before judging anyone immediately.

5. A crazy monster is about to charge at you. Describe the funniest, most creative way you’re going to fight it and hold your ground (You can describe the monster too).

I would tickle the monster and run away from the scene. The idea of tickling someone has no relation with creativity though. Having said that, when you have a crazy monster behind, creativity will fly out of the window. But yes, tickling someone is undoubtedly the most non-violent yet the most torturous way to get things done. Don’t believe me? Try for yourself. I myself have been the victim of tickling a couple of times in the past. The trickiest(and the most creative) part is to figure out the weak points in the monster’s body. Some get tickled if you touch them on their neck, some in their sweaty underarms. I personally know certain monsters who can be fought only by tickling at their feet. So you see, the modus operandi of the fight depends on many things. However, the weapons are going to be my divine fingers.

6. Depict your blog in five numbers and explain why you chose them.

The five numbers would be – 20172

2017 : I started my blog in this year

2 : The number of years I have spent in blogging, making mistakes, getting frustrated, taking a break, learning and again blogging.

7. Expand the following acronym so as to closely describe the most dominant side of your personality: ALACKRE

A : Affectionate

L: Learner

A: Ambitious

C: Curious

K: Kind

R: Rational (sometimes)

E: Easy to talk (my husband would disagree though)

8. You need to choose between a single page of wisdom and a whole blank book of a thousand pages. Which do you pick and why?

I will always be with a single page of wisdom. Why? There is no point in wasting time behind a book of a thousand pages which says nothing at the end of the day. This is quite equal to spending time with a knowledgeable yet humble person (single page of wisdom in this case) with whom you will feel enriched even spending just few minutes. Whereas, a person who simply shows off like a whole blank book of a thousand pages and has no real content to share cannot sustain longer in this world.

9. What’s the best thing you love about yourself?

My ability to be in other’s shoes and try feeling what the opposite person might be going through. However, this habit of trying to understand others often leaves me exhausted and confused. Still, it’s the best thing I love about myself.

10. You have the authority to declare that one day in the year be devoted to some special person/cause. What do you devote it to?

I would like to declare World Make-a-Face Day. That one day in the year when one has the full authority to make a face at someone whom we need to tolerate during the rest of 364 days. This day will usher manifold benefits on our wellbeing. It will cut down our frustration levels and thus make us mentally better and hence physically more fit human beings.

11. You get one minute to talk to a powerful person/ entity. The entity will change whatever you want it to change, but you only get one minute to talk and no more. You only have one chance. What do you talk of?

To author E L James :

I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey series for reasons…ahem…I guess I don’t need to divulge anything new. After gulping the first volume, I was still doing somewhat fine with the second one. But by the time I reached the third volume, things went really boring. Not just because the ‘romance’ had become quite predictable and repetitive, but also because of your character Anastasia Steele.

Anastasia was ‘untouched’ Cinderella without any distress. Everything is so perfect around her. Whatever she does is good. Whatever she says is correct. She gets a better position at work because of her husband. She denies that she is a gold digger but has no problem in enjoying the luxuries that have come to her after Grey enters her life. She is like a saint in this evil world.

In an attempt to make her a perfect human being, you have made Anastasia Steele more unreal than Christian Grey. Please let her character be somewhere in between black and white. Let her breathe. After all, your readers need to pay for that novel where you have mainly concentrated on various techniques of love making rather than writing up a real story. Too much of anything isn’t good.

NOMINATIONS : 

Peppered With Stories

Trizahs RANDOM THOUGHTS

Candles Online

Light Motifs II

SIMPLE ULA

The Krazy Butterfly

Singledust

The Alchemist’s Studio

My Recipes Blog

India Palette

Bookish Fame